Solutions

This smart ‘band-aid’ could help the world beat Ebola

Sun, 2015-03-15 20:21 — mike kraft

MASHABLE by Lance Ulanoff March 14, 2015

AUSTIN — The international fight against Ebola is far from over. Just this week, new patients arrived in U.S. hospitals for treatment. But back in Africa where healthcare workers have battled hundreds of cases at a time, officials are struggling to find smart solutions that can help ensure the safety of caregivers, offer more comprehensive and speedy care and add 21st century solutions to their disease-fighting arsenal.

Wearable technology is very close to joining the fight....

Wendy Taylor, Direct of the USAID Center for Accelerating Innovation holds a MultiSense Memory patch prototype

On Saturday at SXSW, The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) unveiled both a new biomedical suit and the MultiSense Memory wearable sensor:

Even with a new biomedical suit in the wings, doctors in the field still face significant challenges. “Tools are hard to use in an Ebola setting — you can’t use a stethoscope,” said Taylor.

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Watch closely and explain frequently: Liberia's Ebola lessons

Sun, 2015-03-15 11:42 — mike kraft

REUTERS By James Harding Giahyue and Emma Farge March 13, 2015

MONROVIA/DAKAR - Seven months after Ebola paralysed Liberia's capital, Friday marked 21 days since the country registered a case of the virus - offering lessons to its neighbors on the importance of surveillance and education in beating the deadly epidemic....

A massive influx of international aid, including crucial U.S. military assistance, helped Liberia to turn the tide of the outbreak.

But, notes Tariq Riebl, Oxfam's Ebola response manager in Liberia, "What got us to the endgame is that communities took things into their own hands...."

Read complete story.
http://news.yahoo.com/watch-closely-explain-frequently-liberias-ebola-lessons-184507811.html;_ylt=AwrBJR6EmAVV3D0AbnTQtDMD

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Exclusive: take a first look at the next generation ebola-protection suit

Sat, 2015-03-14 16:13 — mike kraft

QUARTZ by Grace Dobush March 13, 2015

AUSTIN, Texas—Perhaps the most surprising and important product debuting at SXSW Interactive this year is a personal protective equipment (PPE) prototype for health care workers dealing with Ebola, a tangible result of the U.S. government adapting the culture of innovation and design thinking so key in the startup world.

A team from the U.S. Agency for International Development demonstrated the traditional Ebola suit and the new suit in a preview for Quartz....

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Heat pumps extract warmth from ice cold water

Thu, 2015-03-12 21:21 — Maeryn Obley

Drammen's ice cold fjord is not an obvious source of heat for the city's inhabitants and businesses

Image: Drammen's ice cold fjord is not an obvious source of heat for the city's inhabitants and businesses

bbc.com - March 9th 2015 - Richard Anderson

The residents of Drammen have rather an unusual way of keeping warm.

The county capital, 40 miles west of Oslo in Norway, extracts most of the heat needed to insulate its houses, offices and factories against the biting Nordic cold from the local fjord, or more precisely from the water held within it.

Averaging 8C throughout the year - it's literally cold enough to take your breath away.

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Liberian Leader Concedes Errors in Response to Ebola

Thu, 2015-03-12 09:50 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by Rick Gladstone March 12, 2015

The president of Liberia acknowledged on Wednesday that she had erred in ordering a tough security crackdown at the height of the Ebola crisis last year, describing the deadly virus as an “unknown enemy” that had frightened her.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during a video address last Deceber to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

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Can Mental Health Services Spur Economic Recovery in Ebola-ravaged Liberia?

Mon, 2015-03-09 17:55 — mike kraft

MAD in AMERICA March 9, 2015

What's the key to rebuilding Liberian communities and igniting the country's economic recovery in the wake of the devastation of the Ebola epidemic and civil war? Expanding mental health services, reported articles in Nature, Devex, StarAfrica and other outlets.

A new three-year, $3 million effort to expand mental health services in Liberia is being funded by the government of Japan through a World Bank-administered trust fund, reported Devex. "Developers of the project hope that an increased focus on mental health will help spur economic recovery and growth in the devastated region by helping build social capital and community trust, while fostering positive coping behaviors," stated Devex. "A new squad of child mental health clinicians will be deployed to approximately 60 schools, while community-based interventions beyond Ebola-affected communities will be strengthened...."

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How big data is beating Ebola

Mon, 2015-03-09 10:22 — mike kraft

Computational epidemiologists at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) have been working to combat the world’s largest and deadliest outbreak of Ebola. - See more at: http://www.information-age.com/technology/information-management/123459120/how-big-data-beating-ebola#sthash.CTk2zlgo.dpuf

Computational epidemiologists at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) have been working to combat the world’s largest and deadliest outbreak of Ebola. VBI’s Bryan Lewis writes - See more at: http://www.information-age.com/technology/information-management/123459120/how-big-data-beating-ebola#sthash.CTk2zlgo.dpuf

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Wind Power Beats Nuclear Again in China

Sun, 2015-03-08 10:57 — Maeryn Obley

A chart demonstrating the rise in wind vs. nuclear energy in China from 1995-2014.

Image: A chart demonstrating the rise in wind vs. nuclear energy in China from 1995-2014.

earth-policy.org - March 5th 2015 - J. Matthew Roney

China, the country that is building more nuclear reactors than any other, continued to get more electricity from the wind than from nuclear power plants in 2014. This came despite below-average wind speeds for the year. The electricity generated by China’s wind farms in 2014—16 percent more than the year before—could power more than 110 million Chinese homes.

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College Kids Make Robotic Arms for Children Without Real Ones

Sat, 2015-03-07 13:23 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Albert Manero and a team of engineering students at University of Central Florida designed a prototype for an electronic arm. Six-year-old Alex Pring was the first recipient. Rather than profiting from the designs, the students uploaded them to the internet for anyone to use.

cnn.com - by Daphne Sashin - March 7, 2015

. . . a team of University of Central Florida (UCF) students and graduates that made an electronic arm for 6-year-old Pring using a three-dimensional printer on campus . . .

. . . got in touch with the Orlando students through E-Nable, an online volunteer organization started by Rochester Institute of Technology research scientist Jon Schull to match people who have 3-D printers with children in need of hands and arms. The organization creates and shares bionic arm designs for free download at EnablingTheFuture.org that can be assembled for as little as $20 to $50. . .

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South African brothers create app to help fight Ebola

Fri, 2015-03-06 16:33 — mike kraft

PALO ALTO WEEKLY by My Nguyen March 6, 2015
PALO ALTO, California --

...Malan and Philip Joubert, brothers from South Africa who recently moved to Palo Alto to expand their app-development company, Journey, saw the demand for mobile solutions, so they created the Ebola Care app to help aid organizations in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The app has several core functions, including contact tracing, which identifies and diagnoses people who may have come into contact with an infected person; quarantine management, which tracks and manages the 21-day quarantine period of a patient; psychological assessments to determine the well-being of health workers; social work to build case files for orphaned children; survivor surveys, which are assessments of Ebola survivors upon leaving treatment centers; verification that supplies have been distributed; and event feedback, which captures thoughts from the community after educational events.

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